Shopify is the better ecommerce builder for large sites with complex needs and multiple sales channels. If you're creating a large-scale online store, Shopify is the way to go. But, we'd recommend you choose Wix for creating a smaller online store. It's better value and simple to use for small businesses, plus has some amazing online store templates.
Finding the right ecommerce platform for your business can seem like a daunting task, especially when all of them seem to offer the same features. Shopify is one of the biggest ecommerce platforms on the market vs Wix, traditionally seen as a website builder also offers ecommerce functionality. So, can you get the best of both worlds with Wix? Or is it better to go with the ecommerce specialists?
Read on as we explain the merits and drawbacks of each of these ecommerce platforms.
In this Guide:
- Wix Summary – Excels at website building, but lacks advanced sales features compared to Shopify
- Shopify Summary – Simple to use and backed by a market-leading range of sales features
- Shopify Supports More Sales Channels – With Shopify, you’ll be able to integrate social media sites, Amazon, eBay and more
- Shopify Has Better Product Inventory – You can upload products in bulk, manage stock levels easily, and analyze customer engagement
- Wix Gives You More Creative Control – It has better website templates and loads of customization through the drag-and-drop editor
- They Both Have Large App Stores – Both of the platforms have lots of third-party apps which can help add features to your site
- Shopify Has Better Accounting Tools – With a convenient invoice generator and tax exemptions, Wix makes accounting easy
- Wix vs Shopify Pricing Comparison – Wix has cheaper plans, but Shopify offers better ecommerce features
- Verdict – Shopify is the better overall ecommerce platform, but don't write off Wix
- Wix vs Shopify FAQs – We answer all of the most important questions about Wix and Shopify for new users
Wix vs Shopify: Head-to-Head
While Wix is traditionally thought of as a website builder rather than an ecommerce platform, it nonetheless performed decently well in our range of tests. It excelled in our ratings for design, functionality, and value for money.
Shopify, on the other hand, scores strongly across the board, especially in the sales features and ease of use categories.
We’ve put both Wix and Shopify through our thorough testing process to make our recommendations. Based on assessments of its features, plus hands-on user testing, we’ve found that Shopify is the superior advanced ecommerce platform.
In fact, it’s fair to say Shopify is the best ecommerce website builder on the market. Shopify has more in-depth sales features than Wix, especially when it comes to accounting and shipping. It also allows you to sell across more sales channels and has a level of depth as an ecommerce platform that Wix simply can't match.
But, if you're creating a smaller store, Wix may still have everything you need. Thanks to its amazing templates and intuitive system, even a non-expert can create a professional-looking site with ease using Wix. The Wix platform gives you a brilliant helping hand right from the word go, drafting up a dummy-online store that will look good enough to publish, even before you adjust it with your own imagery, text and product database – all of which can be done with ease via Wix.
To answer the question of Wix vs Shopify, let's take a closer look at the merits of both Wix and Shopify, below:
Wix for Ecommerce
The perfect website builder for smaller online stores
Wix is best known as a website builder. However, Wix is also a capable ecommerce platform and is constantly improving its ecommerce and online store functionalities.
Wix is probably best suited to small, boutique online stores. When it comes to website design, Wix is really a class apart. It has loads of design features and allows for in-depth visual customization thanks to its straightforward what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor.
Wix has also recently developed tools for improved product management and marketing promotion tools. However, Wix can struggle with larger ecommerce operations, with no dedicated accounting tools. Wix also doesn't offer any built-in support for bricks-and-mortar stores.
Want to know more? Read our full Wix review
- Incredibly simple to use
- Great value plans
- Easy to preview as you go
- No expertise needed
- Great range of templates
- Free plan leaves you with a poor URL and Wix adverts
- After publishing with a template, you can't change to another one
Shopify for Ecommerce
The best ecommerce website builder for large online stores
Shopify is the best ecommerce platform on the market. It has an unmatched set of sales and reporting features, including support for sales in bricks-and-mortar stores.
Shopify might not have the same level of design customization as Wix, but Shopify still gives you professional-looking websites designed specifically as online stores. This means you van focus on the job of selling products and making money, rather than fine-tweaking visual elements.
It's perfect for any ecommerce businesses operating at scale. You can use Shopify to track sales across loads of different sales channels — from social media sites to third-party markets such as Amazon and eBay. What's more, Shopify's powerful analytics and reporting tools make it easy to digest and understand all this sales information.
Shopify excelled across the board in our testing. It combines top class sales channel integration with a simple and intuitive UI, plus great reporting tools to help optimize your sales. Through its Shopify Payments system, you’re able to track everything from sales on Instagram through to Google Shopping, and even real-world point of sale transactions.
Want to know more? Read our full Shopify review
- Unmatched sales and reporting features
- Simple to set up, use and edit your store
- Excellent and varied support options
- Fantastic design options
- Can become more expensive than rivals
- Charges transaction fees unless you use Shopify Payments
Shopify Supports More Sales Channels
Shopify lets you sell your products and services through loads of different sales channels. For example, you can sell through social media sites such as Instagram or Facebook, or global ecommerce sites such as eBay or Amazon.
All the sales information from the channels is managed by Shopify, meaning that you can keep track of stock levels, and analyze the sales performance on these different channels. Wix, on the other hand, only allows you to sell products through its online store templates.
Shopify Has Better Product Inventory
Shopify makes it super easy to add to and manage the products you sell. For a start, you’re able to add new products in bulk, rather than one-by-one. This is helpful if you’ve got a new line of similar products, for example.
Shopify also has excellent product management features which make it easy to track and amend stock levels, as well as analyze the way customers interact with your products when they come to purchase them.
What’s more, many of Shopify’s built-in inventory features are only available for Wix through third-party apps, which can vary in quality.
Wix Gives You More Creative Control
It should come as no surprise that Wix offers fantastic control over the design and style of your online storefront. It is, after all, a website builder first-and-foremost.
Wix offers 71 ecommerce specific website templates across a range of industries. In our user testing, all these templates scored highly for ease of use and design quality. You also have free rein to edit these templates with Wix’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor.
While Shopify does offer a number of strong templates, it can’t match the overall quality and scope of Wix’s.
They Both Have Large App Stores
Both Shopify and Wix have extensive app stores which let you augment the features available on both your online store and ecommerce platform.
However, it should be noted that most of Wix’s apps relate to the design aspects of your site, whereas Shopify’s will give you more complex sales features. One exception, though, is the Online Store app by Ecwid, which will give your Wix website the features to become a true ecommerce platform.
Shopify Has Better Accounting Tools
Again, when it comes to the detail of ecommerce, Shopify wins out again. Its built-in invoice generator makes it super-easy to create invoices, but allows you the option to change and customize them without restraint.
Similarly, Shopify will automatically calculate the tax rates on your products. However, these automatic tax rates can be changed and customized, so you can ensure any quirks – such as state tax exemptions in the US, or VAT exempt items in Britain – don’t fall through the cracks. Any changes you make are applied to your online sales and any sales made with Shopify POS. If that’s not enough, Shopify also has a wide range of accounting apps available for installation.
Wix vs Shopify Pricing Comparison
On paper, Wix appears to be the better value option, with pricing plans starting from as little as $5 per month. However, we’re interested in Wix’s business plans, which start from a $20 per month basic package, and grant you access to Wix’s online store functions, as well as commission free sales.
The top two Wix business plans offer precious little in extra ecommerce functionality. Instead, most of the new tools focus around increasing the number of visitors to your site, rather than improving your accounting, for example.
Shopify, on the other hand, appears to be in a completely different league to Wix when it comes to pricing. Its plans start at $29 per month with Basic Shopify, while the Advanced Shopify plan costs $299 per month.
However, compared to Wix, you certainly get much more for your money with ecommerce features. For example, you’ll get access to the Shopify POS, which supports real-world selling, a range of customizable shipping rates, and even better reporting tools.
Plus, Shopify is currently running a special deal: A extended three-month-long trial period, launched due to the coronavirus pandemic's impact on small businesses.
| Wix Business Basic | Wix Business Unlimited | Wix Business VIP | Shopify Basic | Shopify | Shopify Advanced | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost (paid monthly) | $20 | $25 | $35 | $29 | $79 | $299 |
| Cost (paid annually) | N/A | N/A | N/A | $312 | $852 | $3,192 |
| Domain included | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Staff accounts | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| Abandoned cart recovery | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Gift cards | Via third-party app | Via third-party app | Via third-party app | ✗ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Online credit card rates | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | 2.2% + 30c | 1.9% + 30c | 1.6% + 30c |
| In-person credit card rates | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.5% |
| Point-of-sale support | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Hardware peripheral support | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✔ | ✔ |
The Verdict – Shopify for Big Online Stores, Wix for Small
Shopify is undoubtedly the better ecommerce platform. Wix can only really best Shopify when it comes to the design stakes, thanks to its range of great templates with loads of customization options. That makes Wix ideal for small businesses and anyone looking to build their own site – Wix's fantastic templates will give you amazingly professional results.
When it comes to the actual process and detail of running a more complex ecommerce website, Shopify wins hands down. It has more powerful sales features, fantastic accounting and reporting tools, and can even let you sell products in a bricks-and-mortar store.
Wix vs Shopify FAQs
We answer all the questions you might still have about using Wix and Shopify for ecommerce.
Is Shopify better than Wix?
When it comes to building an ecommerce website and managing your sales, we think that Shopify definitely has the edge over Wix. Shopify offers a more complete solution for ecommerce businesses, offering better accounting and shipping controls for your products, for example.
If you want to run a small online store, you could definitely build it with Wix. However, if you want to really scale your business, we’d recommend Shopify.
Is Wix cheaper than Shopify?
Wix is cheaper than Shopify — on paper, at least. Wix’s business plans (which give you ecommerce functionality) start from $20 per month and climb to $35 per month.
Shopify’s plans, on the other hand, start from $29 per month and rise to a whopping $299 per month. However, even Shopify’s cheapest option, the $29 per month ‘Basic’ plan, gives you loads more features than Wix’s priciest alternative. For example, you get abandoned cart recovery, multiple staff accounts, and point-of-sale support.
What’s more, you won’t need to upgrade from Shopify’s Basic plan until you’re making some serious money. With Wix’s plans, however, you might find your business hitting a glass ceiling on Wix’s plans.
Can Wix use Shopify?
Yes, you can add Shopify products to a Wix website. If you want to use a Wix website for the improved design elements but desire Shopify’s improved ecommerce functions, you can easily add products from your Shopify inventory to your Wix site.
All you have to do is generate an embed code for the products you want to add from Shopify, then paste it onto your Wix website. You’ll get a little product card on your site, complete with an image, customizable “Buy now” button and price. Users will have to check out with Wix, rather than Shopify, but all the tracking will be handled by Shopify.
Does Wix take a percentage of sales?
Nope, Wix doesn’t take a percentage of any sales you make with its platform. This is just one of the reasons Wix is such an attractive ecommerce builder for anyone running a small online store.
Does Shopify take a percentage of sales?
Yes, but only in some circumstances. Shopify will take a percentage of your sales if you’re not using its proprietary Shopify Payments processing system.
Shopify Payments isn’t a bad system, but it’s annoying that you’re forced to use it in order to waive the sales percentage fees.
Is Wix good for selling?
Wix is a good option if you’re looking to create a website to sell products through. It’s simple to use, has a great range of ecommerce tools, and works with loads of third-parties to make selling easy.
However, we’ve found that Wix struggles if you want to sell lots of products. Its accounting and inventory tools aren’t quite as seamless as Shopify’s.
What are the benefits of Shopify?
As one of the most widely used ecommerce platforms on the market, one of Shopify’s principal benefits is that it allows you to sell products through loads of different sales channels.
Rather than relying on just your website to sell products, you can sell your products through Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, and eBay without adding unnecessary complexity to your store. In fact, Shopify is almost unrivalled when it comes to the number of different sales channels you can integrate.
Another area where Shopify excels is in its reporting tools. It has an incredibly in-depth analytics section, allowing you, for example, to quickly and easily see the number of sales you make by traffic source, or even the number of sales you’ve made through discreet campaigns. The level of detail Shopify allows is simply unmatched by website builders such as Wix.
Shopify also has an incredibly large app store with other 1,000 third-party produced apps which can augment the features already found on the platform. For example, you can add apps for customer product reviews or customer order tracking.
Can you really make money on Shopify?
Yes, you really can. Of course, you have to actually sell products to a customer — Shopify won’t just give you money, sadly.
When you sell a product, the customer’s payment has to be processed — meaning there’s a delay between when they pay and when you receive the payment. Then, once processed, the money will be moved to your merchant account. It’s important to have a merchant account set up before you start trying to make sales to make accounting and tax easier to manage.
One thing to keep in mind is that you’ll likely be charged transaction fees — especially for credit card transactions. If you use Shopify Payments you’ll be charged a card rate, which changes depending on your pricing plan. If you’re not using Shopify Payments, you’ll be charged by the third-party and Shopify.
This might seem like a lot of hassle, but Shopify’s rates range between 2.4% and 2.9% for credit card payments, with third-parties charging similar fees.
Tech.co is reader-supported. If you make a purchase through the links on our site, we may earn a commission from the retailers of the products we have reviewed. This helps Tech.co to provide free advice and reviews for our readers. It has no additional cost to you, and never affects the editorial independence of our reviews.